Shadow Empire

After a galactic republic collapses, its many worlds plunge into a dark age. Players take the role of a warlord from a post-apocalyptic society that has risen from the ruins of one of these worlds. Players first generate their world, which can range from small moons to large planets. Worlds are procedurally generated, either randomly or by tweaking parameters, such as whether the player wants a breathable atmosphere.

These options can have a strong effect on the world and may preclude certain strategies. If the conditions for abiogenesis are not met, fossil fuels may not exist, and a thin atmosphere could preclude the use of aircraft.

Developer Victor Reijkersz had made several historical wargames previous to Shadow Empire. He decided on a post-apocalyptic science fiction setting because it opened up what he said was "a great canvas to have more immersive procedural games". To increase immersion, Reijkersz wanted to give each planet a distant history and back story when procedurally generating it. Shadow Empire took Reijkersz four or five years to complete solo. The game was first released on June 4, 2020.

Shadow Empire received generally favorable reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Joe Fonseca of Wargamer called it "the Alpha Centauri of today, only better" and recommended it fans of 4X games and complex computer wargames. In his review for PC Gamer, Jonathan Bolding wrote, "Ambitious in the extreme, Shadow Empire is a unique sci-fi wargame that's a little lost in its own details." Bolding criticized the game's opaque complexity, which he said made parts of the game seem like a black box. Sin Vega of Rock Paper Shotgun wrote that it is "the best and most compulsively playable serious wargame I've ever played for a solid month."